The NotSoWrong Wrong Connection
by TUMe
Summary: Naruto has this ability to see the red thread that connects two soulmates - that's great and all but his own thread is connected to another boy, namely Uchiha Sasuke. What he is supposed to do then? Is he destined to be gay? Oh no! Sasunaru
1. The Normal, Abnormal and The Odd

Disclaimer: Naruto is © to Kishimoto, a Japanese mangaka

Edited by Fatelesskitten (A big thank you for you!)

**Chapter**** 1: The Normal, The Abnormal and The Odd.**

Meet Uzumaki Naruto, an average (or not so average, depends on your point of view) 16 years-old boy studying in a certain public high school in Konoha area. There was no particular reason why he chose to study there, only that the school was nearest to his house. He didn't really like to take public transport to commute, so when he found out that he could go to this school by cycling he chose to go there.

While other people chose school based on their ranking, Naruto didn't really have much concern about that. He was more concerned about how he didn't have to take public transport to school than anything else. This might be an abnormal reason for a normal person to base on in choosing school but not to Naruto.

Because, you see, Naruto had a little bit of paranormal ability. It is funny when I put it that way but really he did have some talent (I'm not sure you can call it talent). Naruto was born with a hyper sense which made him enable to 'see' spirits. (Ahh…please don't get confuse between spirits and ghosts.) Taking public transport meant he would meet more spirits so he avoided public places as best as possible.

Now, Naruto's ability was not very powerful – he couldn't talk or touch or do anything to those spirits that he sensed; nothing fancy really. He could simply see them and that was that; some kind of black cloud-like material around a person or an object. Sometimes the cloud could be big and sometimes it was just a trace of black smoke. However on odd days (like full moon or something like that) he was able to make out a trace of human form from the cloud-like shape and to an extent, he could see their eyes.

Ahhh…you must be wondering, didn't that scares poor Naruto-kun? Well, the answer is no. You see, he had this ability since he was a kid so it was just normal everyday-life stuff to him. When he was small, he even thought everybody could see the spirits just like he did – so he casually pointed out to people when he saw them. Due to this, people avoided him. They were afraid of what he could see. Until this day, he didn't have friends because of that.

So, he ended up friendless. A loner, really. He tried his very best to be friendly but society was not ready for an odd boy like him – difference was intolerable. For all of his 15 years of life he had never had a single friend.

Only when he was in high school did he meet this boy named Shikamaru. If you asked Naruto, he was not really sure whether this Shika-boy was his friend or not. They didn't talk to each other, just exchanged nods (when they met) as acknowledgement of each other. Or sometime a simple 'hi' or a 'good morning' when Shikamaru was feeling less lazy.

This Shikamaru guy was widely known by his lazy habit _and_ his genius IQ. Even though he was the same age as Naruto, he was in a higher year-level than Naruto; he was in one of those advanced classes that let you skip a year. In other words, he was Naruto's sempai **(1). **

It was also widely known that Shikamaru's favourite past-time was to stare at the clouds. During recess, he could be found sleeping or looking at the sky while lying on the grass under a tree. And the start of their friendship started from that tree. Because you see, that tree was Naruto's favourite place too cause it was big and it protected him from the blazing sun.

The first time he noticed Shika-sempai sleeping there, Naruto got a little nervous because people usually didn't want him to be around them. Yet, Shika-sempai didn't seem to mind so Naruto stayed. It was the same on the next day. And the next. And the next. And so on. After a month of sharing the same tree, Shikamaru said something unexpected.

"Troublesome."

And he introduced his name and motioned for Naruto to do the same.

"Oh!! My name is Naruto. Nice to meet ya, Shika-sempai!"

Shikamaru nodded at Naruto's enthusiastic greeting and went back to sleep but that was enough to make Naruto happy. For the first time in his life, someone wanted to know his name. His name!! How cool was that?

So that was how a not-so-much-like-a-friendship friendship between Shikamaru and Naruto began.

Oh I forgot to mention. There was one more person that Naruto could consider as his almost-friend friend. His name was Gaara. He had red hair and a tattoo. For most of them time, Garaa looked like a serial-killer that was about to go on a killing rampage; nobody dared to be near him. Naturally, he was a loner too.

As unsociable a being like Naruto, he didn't even know that a person named Gaara attended this high school. But as fate wanted it to be, both of them took the same Drawing course and their drawing table were situated side by side. Let me tell you all here, even though Naruto was not the brightest person that you could ever meet, he was brilliant at drawing. And so was Gaara. Both of them had a tremendous talent when it came to drawing.

Different from Shikamaru, Naruto's friendship with Gaara started sketchy. Well, they were rivals initially. The Art Teacher always compared their artworks to each other's and this subconsciously made them want to outdo each other. This silly rivalry went for a couple of months until one day, the class was ordered to draw something with 'friendship' as a theme in conjunction with Friendship Day because the school wanted to put up 'friendship' poster on the walls.

For Gaara and Naruto who had never had any friends, their drawings were blank. When they realized that the both of them couldn't produce anything from friendship theme, an understanding dawned between those two; there were both loners. They quickly understood: loners like them should stick together. From there, they began to communicate, mostly about drawing or they would greet each other when they met at the corridors.

Sooo, that was how Naruto came to have a total of two friends in high school.

It was kinda pathetic really to brand that kind of relationship as friendship but it was as close as a friendship that Naruto could get.

.

However, that is not the point here. This story is not about how Naruto makes friends. It's about something else. Something more intriguing.

Because you see, apart from his ability to see spirits he had another ability that nobody knew about (except his grandparents but that's beside the point). He could see the red thread of life that connects lovers to each other. Hehe..isn't that not interesting? Who doesn't want ability like that? The world would be a better place if everybody had that kind of ability.

Still, for Naruto that ability didn't mean much to him. He could have happily told everyone who their soulmate was if only they had asked him. Since nobody asked, he just kept quite about it and preferred to observe only. If he had wanted to, he could have revealed all the secrets and became popular through it. However, Naruto was a good boy. He wouldn't do something underhanded like that.

What was more important to him was for him to find his own destined partner.

He had always hoped that his destined partner would be a cute girl like Sakura-chan: a very beautiful girl in his class. He had a crush on Sakura for like forever but he didn't put any hope in it because he knew she was not destined for him. Sakura's red-thread was connected to a senior named Rock Lee. The funny thing was, Sakura hated Lee with the passion of a thousand suns. Sometime Naruto wondered what Sakura reaction would be if she were to be told that her soulmate was the bushy-eyebrow -it would be funny to watch.

While Naruto had a crush on Sakura, he also kinda noticed that a shy girl in his class had a crush on him. Her name was Hinata. He might have asked her out if her red thread had not already connected to someone else. It would be quite a scandal if people were to know whom Hinata's thread was connected to; it was connected to the school's President Council – Hyuuga Neji: Hyugaa Hinata's first cousin. At school, Neji seemed to hate Hinata's presence so Naruto didn't really sure how they could be soulmates.

Well, that was their problem. It was none of Naruto business how they would make their relationship work. What Naruto knew was that the red thread was real. It really shows one's soulmate. He had proof. Jiraiya-jiji and Tsunade-baba were the real example. They were connected and they were still together even now.

His deceased parents had also been connected with a red thread until they died.

So there was no reason to doubt the red threat even if the couple looked doubtful; it was just a matter of time until they got together, forever. The red thread was a real thing.

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Okay, now we know Naruto's other ability but the story is nowhere near started yet. You see, this story started when a long-absent student came back to school. And his name was Uchiha Sasuke.

Like Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke was a genius prodigy. He was in the same class as Shikamaru but because he was absent for so long from school – due to family matters – he was downgraded to a lower-level class. After 5 months absent from school, Sasuke finally made an appearance. That explained why Naruto had never met him before.

Naruto remembered the day Sasuke made an appearance in his class as clear as a sunny day. It was during Iruka-sensei's history class. At first, Naruto didn't really pay attention; he was busy drawing something in his sketch pad. He vaguely heard Iruka-sensei explaining about Sasuke's condition to the class over the loud squealing of the girls in his class. Apparently, the new boy must be so handsome that it would cause all the girls to squeal like that.

Naruto lifted his face from the sketch pad to have a look but just imagine his shock at what he found. His—his red thread and—and the new boy's red thread. They were connected!

Naruto loud 'No way!!' could be heard throughout the school before he fell out of his chair and fainted.

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Arghh…what am I doing? I'm supposed to work on another story, instead this story came out.

Ohh..but I want to write this. This is gonna be all fluffy, lovey-dovey, romance story. Wahahhaha…

It will be just a short piece with an elemet of fantasy in it.

Jaa,

TUMe Trouble Upon Me

(1) sempai means senior student/colleague


	2. A Pair of Matching Rings

Disclaimer: Naruto is © to Kishimoto, a Japanese mangaka

Warning: Naruto stupidity.

This chapter was edited by Fatelesskitten (Thank you so much!)

**Chapter 2: A Pair of Matching**** Rings**

"Hey, freak. What stepped on your tail yesterday, huh? You shrieked like a girl."

That was Kiba, the loudmouth of the class. This was the first time he talked to Naruto directly like that. Though, he still kept his fair distance when he did that; the dog-boy would never confess it to anyone but he was afraid of Naruto. He heard the rumour: Naruto was able to see ghost.

Naruto looked shock at Kiba's insult whilst Kiba looked nervous, worried if he maybe he had made Naruto angry. Naruto might suddenly decide to curse him (like warlock does!).

"Who? Are you talking to me?"

If Kiba knew what Naruto was feeling right now, he wouldn't worry because Naruto was not angry. Far from that, actually. He was ecstatic! Somebody in class had willingly talked to him! Wohoo, that was the achievement of the century to Naruto. This was somewhat a miracle.

"Yea—yeah you. I was talking to you, blondie!"

Blondie? Had he just called him blondie? Was it some kind of nick name? Cool!! Not only had someone willingly talked to him, he had gotten a nick name as well! Naruto couldn't be happier. Oh, today was looking very bright indeed.

"Eheheh…thank you." Naruto scratched the back of his head bashfully, grinning his heart out.

Looking at Naruto's grin, Kiba reflectively gave out his own grin.

_This guy is weird. Why did he look so happy at my insult?_

And Kiba thought, Naruto's grinning face was somewhat not scary at all (unlike the rumours he had heard about him) and he thought maybe – just maybe - Naruto was an okay guy. He looked like a nice guy grinning like that.

Kiba was about to continue their somewhat non-existent conversation when a low-tone voice spoke from behind him.

"Move. You're blocking my way."

Two pairs of eyes turned to look at the newcomer simultaneously.

_Ahh…_Naruto groaned inwardly.

_The_ Uchiha Sasuke had arrived. He had almost forgotten about _that_ boy for a minute there. The harsh reality that lingered in his mind all of last night and this morning (on the way to school) came rushing back. Naruto tried not to hit his head on the table – he had done enough head bashing at home yesterday.

Yeah, yesterday was disaster. He fainted! The great Uzumaki Naruto fainted! Who ever heard such a ridiculous thing? On top of that, his jiji – his ero-jiji – had to come to school to pick him up. Aghh…what an embarrassment. But he was a bit glad he could go back early. He didn't know what he would have done if he had had to stay.

Because as soon as he reached home, Naruto jumped out of the car and ran at full speed to his room and banged his head on the nearest hard surface. He couldn't believe he had such a fate. Why, God, why?! Why him? He must have done something really bad in his previous life to get such a fate. It was clearly a karma thing.

But Naruto couldn't give up – the blond boy stood up straight at this; his face was full of hard determination. He was sure there was some kind of mistake here. If he prayed hard enough, it might be changed. So he prayed hard, all night long until he fell asleep; hoping that when he woke up tomorrow morning and got to school, the red thread connecting him and that new boy would have disappeared.

It did not.

There was Sasuke, sitting next to his table, looking compose as if the girls stares didn't bother him in the least. He reminded Naruto of a porcelain statue. There was also a red thread, dangling carelessly between them: Naruto's right pinkie was connected to Sasuke's left pinkie.

Naruto foolishly tried to snap the thread by moving his pinkie in a sharp fast movement. Sadly, nothing happened. Sasuke's pinkie didn't even twitch. Using a scissor didn't have much result either. It was like cutting a stream of water flow; it just didn't cut.

"What are trying to do, stupid? Trying to cut my finger?"

Uh-huh, the porcelain statue talked. And it called Naruto stupid! How dare he…eh wait. What did he say? Cut of his finger? His finger? Cut?

Instead of getting angry at Sasuke's insult, Naruto gave him an evil smile.

"That, maybe I do."

Sasuke raised a brow of confusion at Naruto's puzzling answer. This guy was weird. No wonder no one wanted to sit beside him - that's why Sasuke got to sit beside Naruto, there was no other empty seat.

Yeah, weird indeed.

Yesterday, when Iruka-sensei was introducing him to the class, this weird boy had suddenly shrieked – very loud too – and fainted. What the hell was wrong with this fella? Was he nuts? Was it a good choice for him to enter this class? Sasuke might have to re-evaluate his option. But nahh…that would be too much trouble. It was not like, people shrieking when they saw him was something weird. It happened all the time.

Because you see, for Sasuke who had good looks and a high social standing, people shrieking when they saw him was a normal thing. It was always 'Sasuke-kun, so handsome!!' or 'He's sooooo cool' or at the very least a sigh of longing but never 'No way!!'. That was certainly weird and hurt his ego a little bit. He didn't even know this idiotic blond and already the boy seemed to hate him.

Not to mention that evil smile that Naruto was giving him was a bit scary.

The smile might be full out scary if Sasuke had known about the rumours circulating about one Uzumaki Naruto. But alas, he didn't. You see, Sasuke was really popular at school (especially to the girls) but he didn't give a damn about people around him; too many people always lingered around him, he didn't want to add more by showing any interest. Needless to say, Sasuke was out of the gossip loop.

Err…when I said Sasuke was popular, it was not entirely true. He was super popular. As popular as Hyugaa Neji – who was elected to be the Council President by the majority. The only reason he wasn't the President was because he was already busy with sport activities. He had also been the captain of the kendo club and the basketball team once upon a time (before he took his leave of absent) and really did excel in everything he did..

Even someone as socially inept a person as Naruto had heard about him but he never knew the guy personally. He only heard what the girls gossiped about the guy and since Sasuke was absent for so long and in different class-year from him, he never got a chance to see the popular guy. Until yesterday.

Oh he was handsome, alright – just like what the girls said; he had to admit that. Sasuke was tall too, maybe him playing basketball was the reason why he was tall. But then again, almost all the boys in his class were taller than Naruto. It was a little disheartened to say this but Naruto was short for a boy but he believed he would grow taller in this two years time. Just wait and see-tebba!

Hmm… I think we're getting a little sidetracked here. Back to the main story. The finger. I'm supposed to elaborate about the finger.

After giving Sasuke his evil smile, Naruto had made up his mind. He would cut off this black-haired guy's pinkie. Wahahahaha….if Sasuke lost his pinkie the red thread would disappear and his problem would be solved. Naruto patted his back imaginatively at his brilliant plan, grinning like mad all the way to recess.

Under the tree, Shikamaru felt the creepiness oozing off of the Uzumaki boy. He shivered a little; after all, he heard the rumours about Naruto.

"Are you planning to do something troublesome?"

"Eh, how do you know, Shika-sempai? You are truly a genius!"

Shikamaru was about to retort with 'with that evil grin on your face, everybody can guess' but kept quiet instead. That was too much trouble to say and he preferred to continue gazing at the cloud.

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Naruto came back to class from recess a bit early. As he thought, there was no one in the classroom. Ah-hah…except Sasuke. He must had hid himself here from people. Or maybe an honourable student like Sasuke just really loves to study.

Quickly, Naruto glanced around, making sure nobody was nearby and made a dash to Sasuke table. With a rushed 'Sasuke' as a warning, he took Sasuke pinkie into his mouth and bit it hard.

His plan was to literally bite Sasuke's pinkie off.

"Oww owww…stop it you idiot. It hurt! Let go!" Sasuke tried to pull off his finger from Naruto's mouth to no avail.

"Shit, if you wanted to take off a finger so badly, why don't you bite your own finger, stupid!" This time, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hair and yanked him off of his finger. Naruto looked flabbergasted. Why didn't he think of that? If it was too difficult to cut off Sasuke's finger, he could bite his own!

Swiftly, Naruto changed finger; this time it was his pinkie. Sasuke looked at this turn of events with horror. This guy was really stupid, wasn't he? Really, really stupid. He didn't think this blond would take his 'advice' literally and bite his finger. Guilty of being the one who suggested it, he tried to stop Naruto from doing that.

"Hey, hey! Stop that. You're gonna hurt yourself." Sasuke tried to yank Naruto's finger from Naruto's mouth. He didn't think he would succeed because Naruto wouldn't let go until a loud shout of,

"Sensei!! Sasuke-kun and Naruto are fighting!"

In a flash, both boys were separated from each other. Iruka-sensei looked down at them with murder in his eyes. Both of them were sent to principal's office by Iruka not without giving them a lecture about school and it's 'sacredness' beforehand.

They solemnly went to the principal office. On the way there, Naruto still stared longingly at his and Sasuke's pinkie; thinking he might as well continue where he was interrupted.

"Don't even think about it. Are you stupid? It clearly hurt. What are you trying to do, usuratonkachi?"

Sasuke looked mad. He must be because the bite had really hurt. Naruto sighed. Maybe he didn't have the courage to go through with his plan after all; cutting off his finger hurt like hell. His pinkie still hurt. There were teeth marks circling the finger; the dent of the skin was deep, it almost looked like Naruto was wearing a ring.

He took a glance at Sasuke's pinkie. Sasuke also showed the same mark. Since he was paler than Naruto, the marks were more visible than Naruto's. He could clearly see the ring-look-alike marks on Sasuke's pinkie. That must have hurt because Naruto was sure he bit Sasuke harder than he bit himself. But he refused to apologize. He did that for a reason; he was sure Sasuke would appreciate what he was trying to do later.

"I'm really disappointed to hear that you two have the guts to fight in class. Don't you have any respect?"

Both boys were quiet; Naruto because he felt guilty and Sasuke because he didn't really gave a damn what Tsunade – the principal – had to say.

"No one wants to explain anything to me? Fine. You two, detention. Tomorrow evening. I expect you to hand me an essay about respect the day after. Understood?"

Both boys nodded simultaneously and went back to class. They never exchanged anymore words after that, it was as if nothing had ever happened. They preferred to keep what had happened to themselves. School was full of gossipers; if they didn't want this to get out of hand, they should just keep quiet – even Naruto knew that.

But if anyone looked closely, both boys' pinkie were twitching in pain. The marks were still visible like a pair of matching rings on their fingers.

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Chapter 2 end. This is fast because the idea is still fresh and the chapter is short.

Next chapter title:

**Chapter 3: An Evening with You**


	3. An Evening with You

**Edited by Obscure Omen.**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is © to Kishimoto, a Japanese mangaka

**Chapter 3: An Evening with You**

All bothersome thoughts aside, today Naruto headed to school in a happy mood. You must be wondering why he could be in a good mood when he knew that he had a detention and a long essay to finish? Well, my friends, let me tell you: Naruto has this amazing ability to ignore/push aside/bury any bothersome thoughts and only focus on the brighter things in life. In other word, he is an optimistic kind of guy.

Kinda. Well, I'm not really sure myself, actually… He may have just forgotten about the detention. He's a forgetful person by nature—of that, I'm perfectly sure.

So, Naruto was happy to go to school today. So, what? It wasn't like it was a big deal, right?

Hmm, I can't totally agree with that. Sure, Naruto being in a cheerful mood was not something strange—he _is_ a cheerful person—but happy to go to school? Now_ that_ was a little strange. That's not saying he hated school or anything; he was okay with school, but "happy" was not a very appropriate emotion to associate with going to school, either.

That made today a little bit strange, like I said. Would you like to take a guess why?

Was it because of Sasuke?

Not. A. Chance. Thoughts about Sasuke would only make Naruto furious. So, you guessed wrong; it wasn't about Sasuke.

It was about Kiba, actually. Remember when he spoke to Naruto the other day? Remember? Yeah, that. Naruto was happy about that. He hoped he could try and make Kiba speak to him today, too. By sheer luck, maybe Kiba would want to be his friend! Imagine that, a friend who was also a classmate!! Wasn't that amazing? (At least to Naruto, the friendless being, it was.)

Oddly, but predictably all the same, Naruto arrived early for class today. A couple of his classmates were already there, who, he noticed, were the class's brainiacs. Which, of course, included one Uchiha Sasuke.

Figures.

I'm-trying-to-be-a-breathing-wall-here-don't-talk-to-me Sasuke was sitting quietly at his desk, reading a book with an eleven syllable title.

Or, in simpler terms, a book with a title that Naruto couldn't pronounce.

_Show off!_ Naruto scoffed internally, feeling a bit angry at Sasuke for no apparent reason. He threw a glare in Sasuke's direction to slightly show his annoyance, but, as predicted, Sasuke didn't make any sign that showed he acknowledged Naruto's presence. The only movement he made was to turn the page of his book with his left hand.

That slight movement, however, caught Naruto's attention; Sasuke's left pinkie was bandaged with a plaster. Automatically, Naruto looked at his own bandaged right pinkie. Yeah, if you still couldn't guess it, they both had bandaged pinkies—red string still attached. The only difference was that Naruto's plaster was decorated with cheerful fox characters while Sasuke's was plain.

_Boring snob._ Naruto smirked triumphantly. He didn't know why he felt accomplished with that little questionable victory; it felt like he had won a battle against Sasuke. Maybe he did, because now he knew Sasuke was a boring person. _Not so perfect, eh, Mr. Perfect?_

Naruto chuckled at his own joke, not realizing that he had subconsciously confirmed that Sasuke was perfect in his mind. His chuckle, however, earned him stares from his other classmates, many of whom had just arrived, as it was only five minutes before class started. Naruto offered them his Hi-everybody!-Good-morning! smile, which made his classmates cower in fear. Well, their loss. Naruto was just trying to be friendly.

He was still gloating over his little victory (I'm not sure _that_ could be called a victory, but whatever) when he heard Kiba's barking laugh. Swallowing down his nervousness, Naruto recited his speech that he prepared last night:

_Hi__, Kiba! You have nice teeth. Do you like voodoo dolls? I can show you how to make them._

In his opinion, Naruto really thought he had come up with a perfect I-want-to-be-your-friend introduction. He really did, because that was what the guidebook said: It had a greeting, a bit of a compliment, small talk, and, if necessary, an invitation—a perfect greeting speech.

With slightly damp palms—out of nervousness—Naruto walked toward Kiba's spot. He waved a damp palm at Kiba a little before he said what he had practiced all night.

Alas, as soon as he finished, the whole class fell into a silence. If a feather were to fall, you would be able to hear it reach the ground. That is to say, the whole class was shocked into total silence—for obvious reasons:

First, the fearful Naruto was actually talking to a poor victim.

Second, voodoo? What the heck, voodoo?!! So he really did practice black magic, didn't he? Their suspicions confirmed, Naruto's classmates took several steps away from him, including Kiba. In his haste to get away from Naruto, he managed to knock down his chair before pointing an accusing finger towards the so-called cursed boy.

"Wha—what did you say, you freak?!" Kiba managed to squeak out. "Get away from me!" There was no mistaking the fear in Kiba's voice.

Naruto looked at the accusing finger, which consequently made Kiba retract it immediately for safety, afraid Naruto might harm it if he kept pointing. Hands safe in his pockets, Kiba took several more steps back to further confirm his safety. Who knew what Naruto could do to him in a short distance? He'd better take precautions.

Crestfallen, Naruto retraced his steps back to his desk, wondering if he had done something wrong to make Kiba looked so scared, because, last time he checked, he was not that scary, if he was at all.

Naruto sighed dejectedly. Well, that was it, then. His 215th attempt at making a friend had failed, yet again.

_At least I tried._ Naruto bounced back rather quickly. _There's always next time._

By the time he was back at his table, he had returned to his cheerful self. Nevertheless, his cheerful self turned a bit sour when he spotted Sasuke's mocking smirk.

_That insufferable bastard!_

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At five minutes after eight, the teacher came in and class resumed as normal. Well, as normal as a class could be with an I-play-with-voodoo-dolls boy in class. They couldn't wait for the bell to signal their lunch break. It felt like an eternity before the said bell finally rang, and when it did, almost all of the students disappeared in five seconds flat, eager to get away from the Class of Doom.

Okay, that might be a bit exaggerated, but… you know what I mean.

To the oblivious Naruto, today's lunch was just like any other day's. He met Shika-sempai under the tree; they exchanged greetings; and Naruto ate his lunch heartily. He always brought his own lunch; Tsunade baa-chan made sure of that—she was a bit obsessed with Naruto's health. Well, that was okay with Naruto, because Tsunade baa-chan did pack nice lunches.

After finishing with his lunch, he said good-bye to Shika-sempai who waved his hand as a response and returned to class. The class was almost full by the time he arrived, because today he took extra time to eat his lunch. Apparently Baa-chan put extra food in his lunch, which was a bit unusual. Why would Baa-chan feel he needed the extra food? However, he was not one to complain; he liked to eat, and extra food was a bonus.

The class after lunch was Iruka-sensei's, which was sleep-inducing, what with the full-belly and Iruka-sensei's lulling voice. It took all of Naruto's effort not to fall asleep every class—Iruka-sensei was one scary teacher when he was angry, so he had to stay awake or risk losing a limb. After 40 minutes of fighting the urge to fall asleep, Iruka-sensei finally ended his class with a knowing look directed at Naruto.

"You better be there, Uzumaki-kun, Uchiha-kun. Don't be late. Kakashi-sensei will assist you," Iruka-sensei said. The rest of his sentences were inaudible because he said them so softly, but they suspiciously sounded like "He probably will be late himself," and with that, he exited the room.

And then, it clicked. Naruto had detention: a detention that he would have completely forgotten if not for Iruka-sensei's reminder. No wonder Baa-chan packed him an extra large lunch—he was gonna be home late.

Naruto took a swift glance in Sasuke's direction. The detention made him remember yesterday and his unsolved problem.

Yeah, that's right. The _unsolved _problem. The evidence?

The damn red string still dangled lazily between their pinkies, like it was provoking Naruto with its lazy movement, taunting him. Naruto swore he heard the red string mocking him: _Na na na na na…Bet ya can' do any'ing bou' it!_

The sad thing was that Naruto thought the red string's taunt was almost true. But that didn't mean it changed anything. He still believed the connection was some kinda mistake. Whoever or whatever controlled the red string of fate had made an honest mistake; Naruto simply was not gay.

Nope.

Nay.

Which brought up the most important question: Why did Fate think they were soulmates? Naruto was not gay, and he'd never heard anything about Sasuke being g..…

_Wait. A. Damn. Minute._

Naruto's mind screeched to a halt, and he sharply turned his head to look at the breathing statue beside him. He stared at Sasuke with an incredulous expression on his face.

"Holy. Crap!"

Without realizing it, he shouted it out loud, standing beside his table in shock and pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke. "You, _you_! Are you…" _gay?_

Naruto really wanted to finish his question but felt a bit out of place asking it so suddenly, in a room full of people no less. You know, it was like asking someone about their failed test score—you just don't do that in public. Some called it privacy. Even Naruto knew a thing or two about privacy—he went to school, too, you know; they did teach morals as a subject, once upon a time.

909

The detention class was empty when Naruto stepped in, except for Sasuke. The teacher in charge was nowhere to be found. He had the mind to just skip it, but he knew he would get a worse punishment from Tsunade baa-chan, not as the Principal but as his grandma. Damn, there went his opportunity. One of the disadvantages of having your grandma as a principal: They know about _all_ of your behavior in school.

Ignoring Sasuke, Naruto bypassed him and took a seat three desks behind the living statue. It was bad enough that he had to sit beside Sasuke in class; he didn't want to sit near him in detention, too. Furthermore, he was still not sure whether Sasuke was… you know… so he would use this time wisely to observe Sasuke. And sitting behind him was a good place to observe.

His first observation told him that Sasuke had already started on his essay—not a really hard inference to make, Naruto agreed.

His next observation was that for a rather empty classroom, it was really loud for some reason. Looking around him, Naruto got his answer: a truckload of girls—Naruto could only assume they were fangirls—were standing outside of the class near the windows. They all had glazed-looking eyes directed toward his detention-mate.

Che. Figures.

Some were giggling softly, while others were hushing them to try to warn others to contain their excitement so they didn't make so much noise and disturb their Idol—for a group who tried to be quiet, they sure were loud.

Their excitement was understandable. This was the first time that they got to ogle _the_ Uchiha Sasuke _openly_ for a _long _period of time. The detention time and spot provided the opportunity, because, if Naruto was not mistaken, he heard the girls—quite loudly, mind you—say that this was Sasuke's first detention.

Surprise, surprise.

Looking at the girls crowding around the windows, Naruto felt a pinch of sympathy toward Sasuke. Okay, maybe half a pinch, but that was beside the point. The point was that the girls made him look like he was some kind of exotic animal. You know, like the kind of animal you would find in zoo. In a cage. On display.

Pretty, sure.

Exotic, absolutely.

But completely out of reach.

The Mr. Popular didn't have any friends—that was Naruto's smartest observation so far.

He tried to look at Sasuke's full profile, but he couldn't. Something was blocking his vision, or more precisely, something was covering Sasuke's back. Something like a cloud of thick black smoke. The thing was hovering over and around Sasuke. The only thing Naruto could see from his desk was Sasuke's arm moving as he wrote.

Well, remember about the spirit thing? With the spirits like black clouds? Yeah? Sasuke had them. Heaps of them, in fact.

It was funny that Naruto didn't realize it before, but it was understandable.

The last few days he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't think to look closely. Okay, maybe he had been focused on Sasuke's pinkie a little too closely, but that was it. Not over, not behind, not overall: just his pinkie.

Now that he took a real look, the spirits around Sasuke were so numerous, hovering in his space. It made Naruto wonder what Sasuke would think if he knew there were so many spirits around him that they formed a pitch-black cloud, much like a thunderhead.

"Stop staring, stupid. It's not polite."

Sasuke's rude voice startled Naruto from his intense staring. Naruto let out an annoyed huff. Okay, he admitted he was staring, but Sasuke didn't have to be rude. Besides, he was not the only one staring. The girls outside were also staring—and drooling too, by the way the windows were shining all of a sudden with saliva.

It was kinda gross, actually. And from the corner of his eye, he spotted Sakura amongst the masses, his crush of five years. That surely put a damper on things.

Avoiding the gross scene outside, Naruto resumed his intense stare on Sasuke's back, or, in other words, the black cloud. From his experiences, that many spirits meant that there were many dead people involved—dead people whose spirits lingered around their relatives or loved ones. Sasuke sure did have many relatives—err… dead relatives—if that many spirits stuck with him.

In Naruto's case, he could sense two or sometime three spirits around him. He suspected two of the spirits were his diseased parents. For other people, the usual number was normally more than two but rarely more than eight. Sometimes there were no spirits at all, like in Rock Lee's case. Kakashi-sensei also didn't have any.

That made Sasuke's, err… condition very curious. What had happened to leave so many spirits surrounding him? How come he had so many dead relatives? Food poisoning? A family disease? Was that why Sasuke was so, err… unapproachable?

_Gah!__ What should I care?_ Naruto harrumphed to himself.

_Because__, you know, he doesn't have any friends, either. He's just as lonely as you,_ his mind supplied.

"No way." This Naruto said audibly, making a raspberry at Sasuke's back.

"If you're drooling, too, feel free to join them, _outside_." Sasuke's accusing voice annoyed him.

"I am not!" Accusation denied.

Sasuke scoffed.

"What?" Naruto felt that somehow the scoff was accusing him.

"Hn. Anybody would assume from the way you're staring at me that you wanted to eat me. Oh, wait. You did try to eat me, yesterday. Am I that delicious?"

_Whooaa__._ Naruto's jaw was hanging open. _That was more than a sentence! He can actually make conversation?_

And was there a teasing tone Naruto heard in there?

Naruto marvelled over this miracle before Sasuke's words really sunk in. "No, you're not. You tasted salty, by the way, which is totally not delicious. And why would I find you delicious, anyway? You're not food."

His stupidity made him totally miss the point.

Sasuke didn't immediately answer. He was quiet for a long time. Aside from the fangirls outside the classroom, the class was devoid of voices as their awkward conversation came to a halt.

"By almost anyone's standard, that could be taken as a come on. Are you interested in me or something?"

"No way, bastard. I'm not—not gay! Maybe—maybe you are, because who'd take that as come on unless they are gay themselves?" Naruto shrieked, not really aware of what he was saying. The accusation was scary.

"Who cares if you are, you freak! Don't shout at Sasuke-sama or else! Nobody can raise their voice against Sasuke-sama," the angry mob shouted in warning.

Naruto felt silent at that. Although they were all girls, when they formed an angry mob, they were scary. Even Sasuke didn't say anything. Like before, he stayed silent long enough that Naruto thought he wouldn't answer when he finally spoke:

"I'm not."

Puzzled, Naruto asked, "What?"

"A bastard."

"Huh?"

"I said, I'm not a bastard. My parents have already married when they had me."

It took a few seconds for Naruto to realize Sasuke was being a smartass. A smile almost graced Naruto's mouth; wouldya lookit that, Sasuke was trying to crack a joke!

"He is not such a bastard, after all," was Naruto's last observation.

"Shut up, smartass," Naruto said in a friendly tone. Sasuke seemed to catch it, because he sat more relaxed after hearing that. But the girls outside didn't have the same opinion.

"How dare you called him that, Freakto (1)?!! You shut up! Don't talk to him!" The shout was the mild reaction from the mob. The more extreme members of the crowd started to throw rocks at him. Unfortunately, one of the big rocks they threw hit Naruto's head, and he began to bleed.

"Shoot! What the hell?! Stop it! Damn it, this frickin' hurts."

A small amount of blood Naruto could handle, but a lot of blood made him dizzy, and this was a lot of blood. Head injuries are always like that.

The girls kept throwing rocks, and Naruto had a difficult time trying to stop the bleeding with his hand.

"Stop it!" Sasuke's voice boomed, halting all activity. Even Naruto stopped his for a second. When he began moving again, Sasuke was already at his side; his eyes were wild as if he saw something traumatic in front of him.

It was obvious that he was trying hard to quell the fear and panic that Naruto could sense radiating strongly from his stiff, pale(r) body. Sasuke's reaction made Naruto think that his bleeding was worse than he originally thought.

"We need to get you to the sick room."

Sasuke didn't say anything after that. His movements were mechanical, automatic. He carried Naruto to the sick room, bridal style, totally unaware of Naruto's loud protests and his attempts to escape Sasuke's hold. Sasuke himself didn't realize he was holding Naruto strongly. All that he could think of was that he had to get Naruto to the sick room to get him treated so that he wouldn't die. Of blood loss. Again.

"Help!! Help!!" Sasuke shouted to get the school doctor's attention.

"Please help him. He's won't stop bleeding; he might bleed out."

"Alright, er…"—the doctor looked at Sasuke's nametag—"Sasuke-kun. Take a seat. I'll treat him; don't worry," the doctor tried to calm Sasuke, since he looked worse than the actually injured person.

Sasuke was shaking as he took a seat on the nearest chair as was instructed, but he never ceased his pleas: "Please, sensei. You've got to help him. He's gonna die, and it'll be my fault again."

Naruto and the doctor both looked concerned at Sasuke's behavior, but they didn't say anything. Naruto's head was bandaged expertly, and the bleeding tapered off. He felt a little light-headed, but that was all. He already felt better now that the blood had stopped flowing freely. The head injury was no different from when he scraped his knee.

No big deal.

Which made Sasuke's reaction really weird. He was shaking and panicking and was so pale. Why was he so worried about Naruto dying? And he seemed so damn sure that if anything happened, it would be his fault.

During the entire bandaging process, Sasuke never looked away from the spot where Naruto's head was bleeding, as if to make sure with his own eyes that Naruto got properly treated. It was kinda uncomfortable being under that intense stare. He only looked away when the doctor finished bandaging the open wound. His relieved sigh was so obvious that the other two occupants could feel it.

"Okay, all bandaged up. Next time, be more careful."

"Thank you, sensei. Don't worry; I promise I'll be more careful next time… So can you not tell my gran?"

"Hahaha… It depends, Naruto-kun. If she asks, I have to tell."

Naruto pouted but didn't protest much. He knew the doctor was just doing his job.

Outside of the sick room, Kakashi-sensei was waiting for them. He checked Naruto's bandaged head out of concern and offered to take both of them home. Naruto gladly accepted it—he didn't want to ride his bike when he was dizzy—but Sasuke refused; he had his own ride.

No one said anything until they reached the car park: Sasuke was lost in his own mind, Kakashi was busy scolding himself, and Naruto was contemplating what to say to Sasuke.

"Err… Thanks, Sasuke. You didn't have to carry me, you know. I could walk. But, hey, thanks again."

"Yeah, no problem. You… really okay?"

"I'm a little dizzy." Sasuke frowned at that, so Naruto quickly continued, "but I'm okay. Seriously. You? Are you okay?"_ 'Cause I saw you panicking earlier. What was that about, and are you sure you're okay?_

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just…. I… Never mind."

Sasuke gave Naruto a sad smile and headed toward his ride.

That sad smile tugged at Naruto's heart, and it stuck through Naruto's head all night.

Ohh, but speaking about his head, he still felt dizzy from the hit, but somehow he was not furious about it. Because somehow, he could feel that, because of that incident, Sasuke and he could be friends.

Wasn't that just awesome?

(1) Freakto is a combination of "freak" and "Naruto."

**Next chapter**

**Chapter 4: Letters from my Heart**

I'm really sorry this take soooooooo long to update. My plan when I started this was to update once a week with short, quirky chapters. But no luck so far because…of so many things.

p/s: This is not a high-school fic.

I find this chapter's really stupid but I dont care.


	4. Letters from The Heart

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.**

**Warning: BL**

**This is unedited and there will be no edited version. I tried to make it as err…presentable as I can but there will still be mistakes.**

**Chapter 4: Letters from the Heart**

Tsunade Ba-san didn't take the news of Naruto's injury happily. In fact, she was quite upset and fussed over Naruto endlessly about it. As a result, Naruto got a day off of school.

Strangely, Naruto was not happy about that. If before, not going to school was good news to Naruto but today, he had a friendship to make. He wanted to go to school.

Tsunade wouldn't take any of that and she warned Naruto if she caught him leaving the house, then she would force him to eat vegetable and tofu for a week. That was enough a threat to keep Naruto at home. He would die if he had to be a vegetarian even for a day.

Resigned to his fate, Naruto did what he always did when he had free time; he made voodoo dolls. Yeah, I'm not kidding. The voodoo doll that he mentioned to Kiba was not just an empty speech. He really knew how to make voodoo dolls. In fact, he sold them to Old Man Tazuna, who had a relic shop in the town next over; the retired old man used to be a bridge builder.

He knew Tazuna-jiji from his grandson. They met online. Around the time that they met, Naruto was still trying to use his 'talent' for something and he thought voodoo doll was promising. He truly believed at that time, he could do something with the spirits that he saw all the time. He searched the internet for it and met Inari who had more or less the same objective.

Inari wanted to talk to his dead father's spirit.

But what really happened was, he didn't manage to do anything with those spirits that he saw, even with the voodoo dolls. Yet, he developed a liking of making voodoo dolls. He found out that he liked sewing and creating things.

He had become an expert now. With a lot of free time that he had, (well, he didn't have friends so he needed to focus on something else to fill time) he had honed his sewing skill to perfection. Sometimes, he got different orders than making voodoo dolls. He always got extra orders to make dolls during Children Days.

Customers liked his fine handicraft.

But like his other talents, nobody knew about this except for his grandparents, Tazuna-jiji and Inari. Naruto didn't mind anyone else knew about his other talents but this particular skill, he liked to keep it a secret. He didn't want people to find out he _liked_ sewing and _played_ with dolls.

His reputation as a boy would suffer great damage.

So, anyway, that day, Naruto spent his free time sewing. When his eyes felt too tired, he would stop to eat and maybe sketch something in his sketchbook. Then, he would start sewing again. He was not always so dedicated like this, but he wanted to finish a voodoo doll for Sasuke and give it to him at school tomorrow.

Like I said, Naruto is an optimistic guy. He believed this could be the beginning of a real friendship; the voodoo was like a token to mark the start of it.

909

Naruto rode to school the next day, taking extra care to avoid bumpy road. The stitches on his head hurt if he shook too much. The backpack that he carried to school everyday had all the things he needed in school today except a very particular voodoo doll.

Yes, I know I said Naruto had dedicated his time yesterday to finish the doll so that he could bring the doll to school today…

But, it was raining yesterday and the weather made him sleepy and he felt asleep. He woke with the rising of the sun and there was no way he could finish the doll before he went to school.

Well, nevermind. The doll could wait. It might take several more days to finish it, now that he had school but that was okay. He didn't really need the doll to greet Sasuke today, right? He could have just gone up straight and said 'Hi' (or any similar greetings) to him. And since Sasuke was already at his seat, that made it easier for him.

"Ohaiyo, Sasuke. Hehe. You're early today too." Naruto was grinning.

Sasuke was not. In fact, he didn't even lift up his head from the book he was reading. He acted as if Naruto had not just greeted him cheerfully. One could say, he was ignoring Naruto completely.

"Err…Sasuke," Naruto was scratching the back of his head out of nervousness now, "you're busy, huh? Er..okay. We..er..talk later, ok?"

Sasuke still didn't show any response. Naruto was disappointed but he told himself, maybe it was too early in the morning to strike a conversation; for all he knows, Sasuke might not be a morning person. He would try again at recess.

909

As soon as the bell rang for recess, true to himself, Naruto tried again. Only this time, instead of staying quiet, Sasuke packed his stuff coolly and left the class without sparing a glance towards Naruto. Naruto was quite shock at Sasuke's rapid departure. Nevertheless, he was adamant to speak to Sasuke; he stumbled back to his seat to get his bento and walked quickly to catch up to Sasuke.

Sasuke swiftly avoided Naruto attempts' of following him. When Naruto got too near, he switched direction. He purposely walked within crowd to lose Naruto. Fortunately for him, the crowd did help him to lose Naruto.

When he had finally sat down on a bench, he started eating his onigiris. To his chagrin, before he could finish his second onigiri, Naruto, who had found him a few minutes later, sat beside him. With his lunch interrupted, Sasuke left the bench. He walked back to class intending to leave Naruto behind.

Naruto didn't give up; he followed Sasuke back to class. He was about to start talking to Sasuke again when the bell rang. Damn. He had lost the chance to eat his bento and now he lost the chance to talk to Sasuke. Naruto was clearly not happy about the situation. But never mind, he could talk to Sasuke at the end of school.

909

At the end of school, even before he finished packing his stuff, Sasuke was gone. That was fast. Sasuke must have had something important to do if he had to go home that fast. Naruto refused to think Sasuke was that way because he wanted to avoid talking to him.

No. Even if that was true, Naruto wouldn't believe it until Sasuke said so himself.

Until then, he'd try again tomorrow.

909

For the next two days, Sasuke was still acting that way: pretending Naruto presence was non-existence. Now, Naruto had become annoyed. What was wrong with Sasuke? If he didn't want to speak to him, then fine. But avoiding him and pretending he wasn't there was actually a bit hurt. Even people around him (who treated him like he had a deathly disease) never pretended he didn't exist; they scold him or looked with fear at him or jeered at him but they never ever pretended he was not there.

But Sasuke? He didn't even acknowledge Naruto's presence, when just a few days back, they were almost civilized to each other.

Did he do something that makes Sasuke mad at him? He tried to think but as far as knew, he didn't do anything wrong.

Maybe Sasuke was angry about the pinkie?

Well, if he angry about the pinkie he would have said something three days ago, right?

Truthfully, Naruto would have asked 'what's wrong?' if only Sasuke would give him a chance to talk to him.

Was Sasuke afraid of him too? Well, he didn't think so; by the way Sasuke's acted in the detention room, Sasuke didn't seem afraid of him.

If he only knew why was Sasuke acting this way. He could keep guessing but the only way to find was to get the answer from Sasuke himself. He might have to use another method to make Sasuke speak to him.

909

At the end of the class, as per usual lately, Sasuke hurried to his slipper locker to get home as quick as he could. And as usual there were several love letters stuck in that locker. Typical of love letters, they were either pink or perfumed. He was about to do what he always did to those letters—threw it out—when one letter, that was not pink and perfumed, caught his attention. If he was not mistaken, the letter that had his name on it was written by a familiar handwriting. He had seen the handwriting often lately since he sat beside the guy who writes it: Naruto. Even if he didn't recognize the handwriting, the swirl signature was a big give-away.

Looking left and right to make sure that Naruto was nowhere in sight, he stashed the letter inside his jacket pocket and with hurried steps moved towards his car.

He had his reasons to be in a hurry. First, he didn't want to have to meet Naruto. Second, he wanted to know what the idiot had to say in his letter and he could only do that in the privacy of his car.

The letter, which was very different from the love letters that he always got stuck in his slipper locker, should actually be called a note than letter; it didn't have envelope and it contained a two-liner. Well, actually there was more—something like a paragraph—but it was scratch out. Sasuke could detect words like 'voodoo', 'fun', and 'out' from the scratched paragraph, but he couldn't tell what the sentences were meant to be.

The only clear sentences—that Sasuke guessed what Naruto wanted him to read—were

'Hey, Sashuke. You, oke?'

It was simple and straight to the point. So like Naruto. That mere thought managed to bring a smile to Sasuke's mouth. He had known Naruto for what, less than a week?, but he knew Naruto was that kind of person; simple and straight and innocent although a bit weird: he still didn't know why Naruto wanted to bite off his pinkie.

He should be angry about the pinkie incident—shit, it did hurt like hell—but it was so unexpected that he didn't manage to get angry about it. He was more shock than angry, really. Heck, that weirdo also bit his own pinkie! What an idiot.

It was entertaining to see and Sasuke hadn't had any entertaining thought for such a long while now. More like his life was so dreadfully gloomy, entertaining thoughts had no foundation in his life.

Thus, this weirdo really intrigued him. Sasuke could actually imagine his dull life might be a little different if he associated himself with that idiot.

The rumours about him—the one about black magic—could only be adding to the excitement.

He heard the rumours about Naruto the day before the detention a.k.a the day of Pinkie Incident. The fangirls, who feared for his safety, took the honour to tell him all about it—they were concerned about Sasuke's safety since Sasuke had to sit beside Naruto.

If he had made a habit of chuckling in public, he would have had when he heard them gossiping about the Witch Boy. Some even went as far as accusing him of sacrificing innocents for black magic.

It was ridiculous, sure, but Sasuke might believe a bit about the rumours—about how cruel Naruto really is—if he hadn't saw himself what a total opposite Naruto was from the rumours.

That day, Sasuke decided to visit the toilet facility before he went home (he ate too much sweet onigiri for lunch) and the furthest toilet was the safest choice if he didn't want to be mobbed by fangirls. The toilet was certified to be haunted by some, so nobody dared to go near it. As for Sasuke, it took more than 'ghosts' to scare him.

He was walking towards the toilet which was situated near the bicycle rail when he heard Naruto's voice. He didn't mean to pry but the loud voice could be heard meters away.

Naruto was talking to himself. Or to be specific, he was talking to the line of ants that was situated too near to his bicycle. He was assuring the ants that they were safe with him, that he won't hurt them just because they had blocked his exit. True to his words, instead of stepping on the ants, he hauled up his bicycle and carried it away from the ants before he rode it. He even said goodbye to the ants.

Sasuke was a bit speechless to see/hear that. If that boy wouldn't kill things as non-significant as ants, what was the odd he would kill innocent people? Well, if you said the odd is high, hmm…better check your brain.

_Hn. That idiot sure is something._ And for a moment there, he thought, he didn't mind having that idiot as his friend. He smiled unconsciously and resumed his walk to the toilet.

But then, the Detention Incident happened. Before he even started friending that idiot, he was reminded why he didn't make friends before.

Sasuke tore up Naruto's letter and strengthened his resolve to simply ignore Naruto's existence. He never expected Naruto to understand his cold action because sometimes even he didn't understand it either.

But, he had lived like this (alone) for awhile now and it proved that that was the best way so far.

909

The next day in class, after recess, Sasuke received another letter; the letter was put inside his desk's drawer this time.

Well, actually he received more than a letter after recess. Fangirls loved that kinda thing, sending letter, that is and that kind of letters, he received it almost daily.

So let me rephrase it.

The next day in class, after recess, Sasuke received another letter from Naruto. The letter was put inside his desk's drawer this time.

Uh-huh. He wanted to read the letter immediately but he could feel Naruto's stare on him; he couldn't read the letter when Naruto was watching him cause then Naruto would know that he did read the letter. It was important to act as if he didn't bother with the letter or else, Naruto would think that he cared.

Carefully, under the cover of his drawer, Sasuke put the letter in between the pages of one of his books so it was hidden in it. He would read it when he got home today.

Naruto looked disappointed because as the bells rang to signal that school was over today, Sasuke still didn't read the letter. He seemed to miss the letter too. Maybe somebody had taken it before he had the chance to read it, was what Naruto told himself.

No sweat. He would just write another one tomorrow.

909

Sasuke was almost running to get to his car when the school's final bell rang. He wanted to read the letter really badly.

When he finally had the chance to read it, the letter read:

"_Hey, Sasuke __(I got it right this time, yeah?) Did you get my letter? Guess not, eh cause you didn't reply or anything. Right….if you was wondering, the letter said, 'Hey Shasuke, you okay?'"_

Sasuke could feel that Naruto took a pause here.

"_So, y__eah…are you okay cause you kinda being really quiet and stuff. You sick?"_

And that was that.

Sasuke detected real concern in the letter. Was this guy for real? He was either refusing to believe that Sasuke was avoiding him like a plague and therefore should leave Sasuke the hell alone or…he was just plain stupid that he couldn't see the obvious.

Nevertheless, Sasuke felt guilty because even when he was avoiding that idiot, he still got that idiot's concern.

He tore up the letter this time too.

909

Next morning, instead of finding a letter, there was a note scribbled on his desk, with orange crayon.

Apparently, Naruto had come to school early to do this. He was grinning at Sasuke at his desk. This time, Sasuke couldn't help but read it outright before he cleaned up his desk.

Beside him, he knew Naruto was waiting for him to response and just like the letters before, he didn't.

Because of that, he got another letter, put in his slipper's locker. This time Naruto sounded angry.

"Hey, bastard! You're really avoiding me, eh cause you definitely read my letter before! Why don't you just tell me? I'll leave you the hell alone."

909

The next day, Naruto received a letter when he came to school. His grin could light up the whole class. He turned to Sasuke to show that he knew whom the letter was from. However, after reading it, Naruto's grin quickly turned to frown. His cheerful good mood just now turned grey.

Those two sentences in the letter were the reason why. Those two sentences in the letter were harsh. Disappointed couldn't even begin what Naruto was feeling.

"_Usuratonkachi. Now that you finally get it, leave me the fu#k alone."_

God knows this was his nth attempt to make a friend and failed. Naruto was already used to the rejection but somehow Sasuke's rejection this time had hurt. Cause this time he got rejected not because Sasuke was afraid of him, but because Sasuke didn't like him.

What else could it be? Like others, they were afraid of him but Sasuke? He must have hated his gut.

909

p/s: This is for Halloween--just because Naruto see spirits. Hehehe

**Chapter 5: Green looks good...on other people  
**


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